How Does Cell Phone Affect Daily Life - Research Paper Example

? How is cell phone affecting our daily life? A research has been carried out to find the numerous ways through which cell phones have affected the daily life. The research has been conducted with the help of secondary data sources. The information obtained from the secondary sources has been analyzed to determine both the positive and negative impacts on daily life due to the use of cell phones. The various benefits enjoyed by the users due to the multiple features offered by the cell phones in terms of portability, advanced communication technique, security in daily life has been analyzed. The various adverse effects of the use of cell phones in daily life have been determined. The overall effects and contribution of cell phones, taking the benefits and hazards of daily life into consideration, helps to understand the impacts of cell phone in daily life. Introduction The advent of cell phones has revolutionized our daily livelihood. Cell phone has become an integral part of our daily life and is one of the basic needs of the life. In every step of our daily life starting from eating, talking, working and sleeping, cell phone is involved in numerous functions that we undertake. It has become next to impossible to imagine about our lives without the use of cell phone. This could be evidenced from the fact that if our cell phone is damaged or lost, we do not wait or think twice but immediately take actions of either buying a new one or repairing it as soon as possible. The availability of cell phones in the market is also has been an area of achievement by the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. A wide range of cell phones are available in the market in terms of quality, style and price. Even high quality and branded cell phones are available in the market at affordable cost. The marketing channels used by the sellers are also of a wide range that varies from multiple shopping channels, electronic channels, etc. The cells phone are electronic gadgets that offer multiple benefits on different situational circumstances to the user. Apart from the communication aspect of cell phones, cell phones are used for the purpose of entertainment, watching and listening to videos, music, songs, etc. Apart from this, cell phones serve as life saving instruments for the user in order to rescue themselves under dire circumstances. Cell phones have the passive attitudes of life into aspects of talking initiative. Rather than waiting for an event to happen or information to be retrieved, cell phones allow the user to take the initiative of reaching to the happening place of the event or to acquire the desired information. Apart from the benefits, cell phones also affect our daily lives through environmental and health hazards (Katz, 23). The launch of new mobile phone with upgraded technology draws many users who scrap their old devices and buy a new cell phone. Thus the debris of cell phone is piled up in the society. The toxic metals like cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, manganese, lithium, zinc, arsenic, antimony and copper and other heavy metals present in the cell phones add to the environmental wastes and cause pollution. The health hazards that are caused by the cell phones include cell phone elbow, malignant gliomas, acoustic neuromas, heart ailments, etc. Research Problem The research problem defined for this research is, “How is cell phone affecting our daily life?” The research problem has been designed to explain the positive and negative impacts of cell phone in our daily life along wit the changes that have been brought about by its usage. Literature review The communication channels of the world have developed through ages. The technologies have produced its fruits which have revolutionized the ways of leading life. The ways of communication are, however, classified as passive and active. The passive ways of communication is not under the control of the user. The user has to wait for initiation of the communication or has to wait for the information for a particular period of time. The active ways of communication includes the scope of the user to initiate the communication process at any point of time or get updates on events. The active ways of communication provides the user with full control over his desire for participation in the communication process. In earlier periods, the people had to go wait for public communication systems for news and other information. The use of newspapers and books was the means of communication. The telegraphs and subsequently faxes were used which were time consuming and did not offer the scope of direct interaction. The advent of radio and television brought the various parts of the world closer to each other. The need for a direct means of communication which offers the scope to both the user and the receiver for audio exchange led to the discovery of telephones. The use of telephones allowed the users to express their ideas, views, thoughts, expectations, happiness and sorrow to the target receiver. However, with the change in pace of the globalization and with the increasing speed of livelihood, the telephones started to exhibit drawbacks as these were not portable and could not be carried by the users. This led to the advent of cell phones. The cell phones were tablet relatively small sized electronic gadgets that could be carried by the users to any place at any point of time. “The past decade has seen two simultaneous technological revolutions in communication and we rapidly moving towards the convergence of both of them”(Glotz, Bertschi and Locke, 2). The aspect of portability was widely accepted by the people and was a lucrative area of investment for the communication industry. The policies of the governments on communication and allowing foreign direct investments in this industry fostered rapid growth of the communication industry across the world. Initially, the cost of cell phones was higher and could be purchased by a limited number of buyers with the elite class of the society using it to the maximum extent. With the spread of its use among people across the world and feasibility of investments in cell phone businesses led companies to invest more in this sector. This brought about investment in advanced research and development that led to the advent of new technologies that were cost effective. Thus a wide range of cell phones were available in the markets that were of high quality and affordable prices. The competition in the communication sector led to the increase in the quality of cell phones which were cost effective. Thus the sales volume of the cell phones increased drastically and almost all sections of the people replace their modes of communication with the cell phones. For use in daily life, the majority of the people scrapped the use of traditional telephones and adapted to the use of cell phones which offered increased portability, freedom of communication, privacy and last but not the least cost effective prices (Nevid and Rathus, 373). Cell phones led to a highly interconnected network all over the world with larger distances brought to the door step. Research Methodology The effect of cell phones in daily life has been determined with the help of a suitable research methodology. The research methodology adopted for this research is secondary research method. The data collected for this research are secondary data. The informational data for the research has been obtained from the use of secondary data sources like books, electronic sources, articles, etc. The research has been conducted on the basis of existing data available in these sources. The transition of the phases of changing needs and subsequent development in communication sector that lead to the advent of cell phones have been identified. The effects of the use of cell phones on daily life have been analyzed. It has been found that the cell phones have revolutionized the ways of life. The cell phones provided the power to the users to adapt to the face pace of modern life. The ways of life changed from passive mode to an active mode where people could take initiative for the actions to be performed. The methodology adopted for the research includes deeper enquiry on the subject. After enquiring on the changes in lifestyle brought about by the use of cell phones, the benefits and hazards of the electronic gadget was also analyzed. The added features offered by the cell phones including the portability, improved means of communication, multiple benefits including entertainment, security aspects were also introspected. “It is in the recent years the rapid growth in the mass market for mobile communications globally, and an increasing media and policy interest, that has widespread academic interest in mobile communications has developed” (Green and Haddon, 9). After finding the benefits of cell phone in daily life, the hazards of the use of cell phones have been estimated. The hazards of usage of cell phone in daily life included analysis in terms of the environmental and health perspectives of the society. The research methodology also incorporated an enquiry on the different actions undertaken by the companies to restrict the evil of cell phone on the users. Analysis and findings The analysis and findings of the research is given as follows. The findings from the analysis depict the benefits of the use of cell phones, hazards created as a result of its use and the ways it affected the daily life. The use of cell phones brought new dimensions to life. Cell phones started to offer features that not only served the communication needs of the user but also addressed the needs of entertainment, security, reminders, etc. The cell phones offered multiple features to the users where they could use the same device for communication as well as watching videos, listening to music, setting reminders for future events of daily life, security purposes, etc. The cell phones also served the users to undertake necessary communications at the time of danger. Rather than waiting for consequences in dire circumstances, the cell phones were used to initiate communication for getting rescue from the danger situations. The detective agencies also used cell phones to a large benefit with secret information being passed at the slightest of a moment (Ling and Campbell, 69). His helped to reduce crime, corruption and evils of the society. Thus cell phone affected our daily in several ways. It brought the power for the user to respond to the pace of modern life. Apart from the benefits, the cells phones also posed problems in daily life. The problems include health and environmental hazards. The hazards are certainly incurred by the society along with the benefits. The health hazards that occur in the daily life due to usage of cell phones are largely due to the usage of the device in an improper manner. The use of cell phones and positioning of the electronic gadget in the body at the time of use may lead to cell phone elbows, malignant gliomas, acoustic neuromas, heart ailments, etc. The sound wave and radiation passed from the cell phones at the time of its use may lead to diseases for the user. Thus use of cell phone as per the guidelines is recommended. Apart from this, the cell phones are also prone to cause environment hazards. “The number of unused or retired phones will keep growing year after year, posing an ever increasing problem for the environment” (ARP, 1). The composition of cell phones and its accessory parts include heavy metals, nickel, cadmium, zinc, manganese, mercury, antimony, lead, etc. These metals are persistent and bio-accumulative. This means that the metals in the composition of the cell phones do not degrade in the environment and pile up in the debris. The accumulation of these toxic metals may increase the toxic level of the wastes and may lead to pollution of the environment. The exposure of these metals to the environment may lead to contamination with the water and soil. The leakage of these metals into the layers of earth would cause infiltration on the food chains and is likely to cause health hazards in return. The infiltration of lead into the food chain in enormous amounts would lead to the damage of liver, kidney and nervous system of the people. In order to reduce the environmental hazards and the health hazards, the companies and the manufacturers have undertaken acts of corporate social responsibility to limit the damage to the society. The recycling of the cell phones has helped to limit the adverse effects on the environment and health that occurred as a result of the use of cell phones in daily life. Discussion The wide use of cell phones has not only impacted the daily life of the people but has also been a lucrative area of investment for the cell phone companies. As a result of the highly competitive market and lesser bargaining power of the cell phone manufacturers, they invested increasingly on the research and development in order to bring cost effective cell phones in the market without compromising on the quality aspects. On one hand, while this step enabled the companies to gain competitive edge, the buyers on the other hand could find a range of affordable hand sets with advanced technological features. The use of cell phones was also considered as a symbol status of life. The cell phones formed one of the basic needs of life for active mode of communication. The portability features of the cell phone, advanced and easier methods of direct communication and multiple features on entertainment and security led to the integration of cell phones with the daily lives of people. Apart from the benefits, the cell phone has also created adverse effects on the health and environment in daily life. However, the positive effects largely exceed the negative impact for which the cell phones are considered one of the essential items of life. “The technology has become reliable and easily accessible” (Ling, 21). Limitations The limitations of the research carried pout on the effect of cell phones in daily life are given below. Although the research carried out highlights the ways in which cell phones have affected the daily life, the research does not provide an insight of the reactions of the consumers on the cell phone products. The opinions and feedbacks of the users on the desired modifications and additional features sought in the cell phones could not be revealed. The ways in which use of cell phones is likely affect the daily life in future has not been revealed in this research. The probable hazards in future that could arise from the use of cell phones have not been addressed by this research (Katz, 35). There are some sections of the society that are not savvy with the use of cell phones mainly the most elderly people of the society. The research doe not indicate the effect on daily life of the older people of the society who find it hard to adapt to the technology of cell phones. Conclusion The various ways in which cell phones affect the daily life have been explored by this research. The secondary research carried out indicated that cell phones have become an integral part of daily life in addressing the needs of direct and active communication. The cell phone is a status symbol in daily life that offered multiple features like entertainment, security, etc. The health and environmental hazards due to the use of cell phones have been found out through the research activity. The benefits of the cell phones have been found to exceed the hazards as a result of which the users have been able to find value through its use in daily life. References ARP. Mobile Phone Waste And The Environment. 2000. Web. 07 June. 2013. < http://www.arp.net.au/envcha.php>. Katz, James. Everett. Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Social Life. USA: Transaction Publishers, 2011. Print. Ling, Rich. The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone's Impact on Society. USA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2004. Print. Nevid, Jeffrey. and Spencer, Rathus. Psychology and the Challenges of Life. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print. Glotz, Peter., Stefan, Bertschi. and Chris, Locke. The Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society. USA: Verlag, 2005. Print. Katz, James. Everett. Handbook of mobile communication studies. USA: MIT Press, 2008. Print. Green, Nicola. and Leslie, Haddon. Mobile Communications: An Introduction to New Media. UK: Berg, 2009. Print. Ling, Rich. and Scott, Campbell. The Reconstruction of Space and Time: Mobile Communication Practices. USA: Transaction Publishers, 2011. Print. Read More